This invention relates to improvements in fishing reels and in particular to a fishing reel having a revolving spool including means to electrically change the speed of rotation of the spool or similar device and more particularly to decelerate or stop the direction of rotation of the spool.
Construction techniques of fishing reels may be broadly catagorized into basic groups. A first group, referred to as "bait casting reels", includes a spool with an axis generally perpendicular to that of a fishing pole. The typical bait casting reel includes a clutch release button which will allow the spool to pivot freely about its axis, and further allow fishing line to be easily taken from the spool. These types of reels also include a drag mechanism by which line may be pulled from the reel with an effort dependent upon the particular setting at which it is set. In this way, the drag mechanism functions to allow a fish to be tired out by unreeling line, without the corresponding risk of snapping the line. In a typical casting situation, a weight is placed on the free end of the fishing line, and the clutch release button is depressed. The weight is cast in a direction of desired placement. While line is played out, manual pressure of the fisherman's thumb is used to decelerate the spool. Even with a great deal of expertise, care must be taken to slow the rotation of the spool of a reel after a cast release to prevent overrun and subsequent entanglement of excess line flowing from the spool.
A second group of reels referred to as "spinning reels", were created with the axis of the reel spool parallel to that of the fishing rod. In such reels, overrun after casting was generally prevented, but other disadvantages resulted. The spinning reel could not hold the quantities of line as could the bait casting reels. Also, the spinning reels are generally not as adaptable to heavy line or extremely heavy loads. For these reasons, bait casting reels are often deemed more desirable, hence dictating the need for improvements.
In the past, bait casting reels have been provided with magnetic means for preventing the overrunning of the fishing reel spool as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 2,361,239 to Ransom, granted Oct. 24, 1944 which disclosed the use of a pair or more of permanent magnets disposed radially of the hub in spaced apart opposed relationship. A braking member is disposed in an air gap between the sets of magnetic elements. A member suitably secured to supporting framework for the pairs of magnets has a lateral flange supporting the magnet members and the braking member has a flange disposed in the air gap between the magnet elements. As the flange moves into the magnetic fields existing in the gap, eddy currents will be set up in the braking member which tend to brake rotation so that whenever a rotation-producing force is no longer present the spool will rapidly slow down and overrunning is prevented. When casting, the line is played out from the spool and the magnetic elements exert a drag or braking effect on the element. Means are provided for varying the retarding force or drag on the spool. The braking is therefore hysteresis in its effect and means are provided to adjust the same.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,482,428, a pair of oppositely operating permanent magnets are disclosed facing in opposite directions on opposite side faces of the hub of the reel serving as brake surfaces to effect various degrees of drag or braking. As the speed of the spool increases the braking decreases and as the speed of the spool decreases the braking effect takes place. When the spool is not in motion, a cast may be made without the necessity of applying thumb pressure to the spool at the beginning of the cast.
A second patent to Ransom, U.S. Pat. No. 2,550,861 also teaches the use of hysteresis braking wherein magnets are disposed about the axis of the spool spindle and the magnets act as a governor. When the spool is rotating, during casting for example, eddy currents are generated in discs of a damping unit and the magnetic disc acts as a revolving flux path to opposite poles of the magnet increasing the flux density through the non-magnetic disc. The hysteresis brake may be adjusted to vary the restraining effect thereof to changing the amount of drag on the reel during a casting operation.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,116,892, to Pickard, the spool is operated by means of an electric motor mounted coaxially within the hub of the spool, the hub consists of an armature and a commutator mounted to rotate with the motor rotor. A pair of permanent magnets are positioned in close proximity to the armature. A switch is actuated to energize the D.C. motor and the speed at which the armature rotates is determined by the position of permanent magnet bars with relation to the armature. To reverse the rotational movement of the spool a switch pin is activated in an opposite direction.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,351,300 to Nagy discloses an electrically powered spinning type fishing reel. The motor is operated by battery means and is energized to reel in the line whenever the pull on the line is relaxed; the motor circuit is closed when the line is being dragged out by the fish. Reverse driving of the motor causes it to function as a generator for recharging the batteries. The reaction of the motor to any release of tension in the line is assertedly automatic and instantaneous in resuming the reel-in operation and any resistance to playing out of the line during casting is eliminated.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,675,870 to Ride discloses an electric fishing reel for fly fishing having a small electrical machine of the inducer type which functions as a dynamo brake to control unwinding of the line from the reel drum and as a motor to rewind it. The motor has a permanent magnet and a switch is employed to cause it to function as a motor, or short-circuited directly or through resistance to function as a dynamo brake.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,241 to Gray discloses a magnetic braking and clutch system utilizing magnetic lines of flux and co-acting elements to provide a braking action on a rotated member whereby automatic detection of a reduction of line tension on a rotating line spool is obtained and in substance a braking action effected to terminate spool rotation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,402,470 to Hamayasu relates to a fishing reel which has a spool shaft; the spool is rotatable by reason of the disengagement of a clutch and the reel is provided with a detector which detects line drawing-out speed and has a second detector which detects the rotational speed of the spool. The reel has an actuator which controls application of rotational resistance against free rotation of the spool. The detector means employed are described as being a luminous element such as a light-emitting diode and a photo-transistor and alternatively as magnetic detection means wherein the line is attached or coated with a magnetic substance. The detectors emit a pulse signal to compare the line drawing-out speed to detect the amount of backlash and are adapted to actuate a braking device. If the rotational speed of the spool is larger than the line drawing-out speed during the casting and a backlash is about to occur, the detection signals from the detectors detect this and actuate the braking device to apply rotational resistance to the spool. The rotational resistance exerts braking action on the spool so that the same rotates at low speed or stops.
A disadvantage to the braking mechanisms heretofor presented is that the control afforded to manual reels, with which the fisherman could manually place the line in a desired area through exertion of pressure onto the reel with his thumb, is forfeited with automatically continuously braking reels. Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a bait casting reel which will allow for free rotation of a spool during a casting sequence, with subsequent slowing or braking for a preselected period of time, with the final braking or stopping able to be accomplished manually by a fisherman. In this way, an increased margin of error against overspin would be provided, without forfeiting the ability to manually select the final position of the fishing line.
In the present invention, a revolving spool type fishing reel is provided with an electric generator to act as a dynamo brake in order to inhibit backlash. At a predetermined time interval after the start of a cast, an electrical load is placed across the generator by means of an electronic switch; the generator remains loaded for a predetermined period of time then the electrical load is switched off, and the spool coasts until it is stopped by the fisherman's thumb. The generator preferably is a small permanent magnet generator attached to the spool spindle. The magnitude of the current generated increases as the speed of rotation of the controlled body increases in the permanent magnetic field. The generator converts Kinetic energy of rotation into electrical energy when an electrical load is placed across the generator. This load is placed on the generator by an electric switch. Such loading dissipates some of the rotational energy of the spool and acts as a controlled brake during the cast to reduce spool overspin or backlash.